We are currently having our first real Southern California
winter in several years. (Rain!!! Yeah!!!!)
Ironically enough, I have selected two books in a row set during summer
heat waves. (I had no idea, I
swear!) It was certainly fun to enjoy
warmer weather vicariously through A Palette for Murder.

Because Vista Beach, California, is right on the beach, not
everywhere has air conditioning. After
all, it’s only a few days a year that things get hot enough to truly need
it. However, a heat wave in the small,
Los Angeles County community is making residence leave their windows open in
the hope that they can cool off a little.
A group of thieves in neighboring towns are taking advance of that.

And it looks like those burglars have finally hit Vista Beach. One morning Aurora “Rory” Anderson finds her
neighbor Willow dead on her kitchen floor.
It looks like a robbery gone very wrong, but the police aren’t so
certain. In fact, they start looking at
Dawn as a suspect. Dawn has been a good
friend to Rory and her family, so when Dawn asks for Rory’s help finding the
killer, Rory agrees. As she begins to
investigate, she learns that Willow had many hidden secrets. But which one of them lead to her murder?

The characters in this book are good; we care enough about
them to care about the outcome. I’m
definitely rooting for Rory to get her love life figured out, and I really
enjoy her best friend. I do feel they
could be stronger, but that’s not a reason to skip this series.

The mystery in this book is very strong. There are so many secrets and twists along
the way that my jaw actually dropped a couple of times. I did figure out the killer a bit before Rory
did, but I didn’t mind at all since the ride was so delightful. I had a very hard time putting the book down
and finished it up in just a couple of days instead of my usual three.

Those familiar with the series will know that Rory is a toll
painting enthusiast. It continues to
color Rory’s world with Willow having taken some classes in addition to being
Rory’s neighbor and Dawn being an instructor.
I really enjoy this theme since painting isn’t something that pops up in
many of the books I read.

Watching how the twists of the plot come together for a
logical solution makes reading A Palette for Murder a lot of fun. Fans of the
series will be delighted to return to Vista Beach. If you are new to Rory’s world, settle in for
a good book today.

By now, everyone knows about the vaulted Marvel Cinematic
Universe. As a result, I have been
trying to follow the movies in the order of release. I’ve just let myself get behind. In my efforts to catch up, I just watched Captain America: Civil War. It’s definitely not the best in the Marvel
franchise.

The Avengers are finally having to face some consequences
for their actions. While many still
consider them heroes, people who have been effected by their huge battles are
putting out a cry for some kind of oversight.
An international organization has answered the call, but the camp is
being split into two with Steve Rogers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans), on
one side and Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), on the other.

While the rest of the superheroes are choosing sides,
Steve’s friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) resurfaces, accused of committing
a horrible crime. Steve is quick to
defend his friend, and these actions only further the rift between the two
sides of the Avengers. Is Bucky truly
innocent? Can Steve help him prove it
with his old friends after him?

Really, to call this a Captain America film is a
misnomer. While we don’t see Thor or the
Hulk, the rest of the Avengers are all present and have plenty of screen
time. Yes, there are a few things here that
are carry over storylines from the previous two Captain America films, but this
could have been another Avengers sequel without any real difference in the
storyline.

In fact, I feel like it would have been better that way. The Bucky Barnes storyline served a purpose
in the divide, but anything else would have worked just as well. And if it were an Avengers focused film, it
might have better served the Civil War part of the plot. As it is, we get some resolution to that, but
it is obviously something they will be carrying over to further films. While we’ve had threads left hanging in
earlier movies, this is the first time I’ve really felt like we had a big,
unspoken “To Be Continued” hanging at the end of the film.

Of course, if you are looking at this for action scenes,
you’ll be greatly rewarded. They are
plentiful and fun. There is a big fight
that includes the newest superhero in the roster – Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man. Meanwhile, we also get to meet the newest
Spider-Man as Tom Holland steps into the roll ahead of his debut headlining a
film later this year.

And my critique certainly is no reflection on the
acting. The cast all does a fantastic
job with their various rolls.

I just wish that the story had been ironed out a bit
more. I just feel like we’ve been left
with too little resolution for the two plus hour run time of the film. Yes, the Captain America part is actually
resolved, but there was so much more to this film than that, and to have to
wait a year or longer for the next part is frustrating.

And yet their plan certainly worked. I will be back for more Marvel films to find
out what happens next to these characters.
It’s not that Captain America:Civil Waris a bad film. It’s just
that it leaves too much open to be truly satisfying.

As a kid, I used to dream I could hop into my favorite
book. You can imagine how much I’ve been
enjoying the Story Thieves series since it features kids who can do just
that. Of course, my dream was always to
just meet my favorite characters and experience the story, but as Bethany and
Owen have learned, that’s not always a good idea. Secret Origins is their third adventure, and things get even more complicated.

It’s been two months since Bethany last jumped into a book –
any book. It was a hard decision she and
Owen had made to avoid causing any more issues in the lives of fictional
characters. She’s found it frustrating
since it means she can no longer look for her father, a fictional character
trapped in some book. And it’s also made
her notice a man parked across the street from her house.

Owen is sure that this mystery man isn’t watching her, but
Bethany knows better. She talks Owen
into tracking the man to his home, where they make a startling discovery. Have they stumbled on Bethany’s father? Where will they find themselves next?

The first book in the series played around with fantasy
stories, and the second took on mysteries.
This time, we spend most of our time in the world of comic books. While I have never read comic books, I am
familiar with the characters and the world they inhabit thanks to movies and TV,
and so I enjoyed some of the discussion about how this new world should
behave. In fact, some of the spoofs of
comic books were pretty fun.

Those who have been reading the series from the start will
be delighted with the revelations we get here.
In fact, we get answers to many of the questions left over from the first
couple of books here. As a result, I
really don’t recommend you jump in here.
Trust me, you’ll have such fun along the way, it’s not an issue at all.

These books are always fast moving, and this one is no
exception. I purposely kept my plot
teaser very vague since this book unfolds in a delightful and fun way, and I
don’t want to risk spoiling any of it. I
found myself reading longer than I should a couple of different times because I
had to read just one more chapter. There
are some wicked cliffhangers along the way guaranteed to keep you reading,
too. And let’s not even talk about the
cliffhanger at the end of the book. Is
the next one out yet? Please?

Series fans will notice I’ve mostly talked about Owen and
Bethany. Yes, other characters from the
series pop up, although that’s all I’m going to say. We get some fun new characters as well,
filling this book with people you want to spend time reading about.

The answer we get here will please those who have been
reading the series all along. And if you
are new to the Story Thieves books, start reading them today. You’ll be done with Secret Origins before you know it.

Railroads have always been a huge part of the board game
Monopoly, so it makes sense that Hallmark would choose the Locomotive token as
part of their Advance to Go series of miniature ornaments. It’s just sad that this is the final entry in
the series.

Now, if you are like me, you are probably wondering where
the train token comes from. With all the
versions of the game I have, the deluxe version was never one of them, but the
train is one of the tokens in that version of the game. Even so, it’s easy to picture this as a
Monopoly token. The ornament itself is
pewter, and looks like a locomotive. The
details on the sides could be a bit better, but Monopoly pieces aren’t known
for their detail, and it is still easy to tell exactly what we have.

As I said earlier, this was the final entry in this
particular miniature series, ending it at 3.
Only one of the three was from the classic edition, and I do wonder if
it would have helped the series live longer if they were more of the classic
game pieces. Having said that, I
certainly don’t think any piece would have been better to end the series. While this doesn’t grab me as a nostalgia
piece since I haven’t played the version of the game it comes from, I love the
connection to the four railroads on the game board.

This is an ornament of a game token, and as such, you can
easily set it out to be displayed year round.
Or maybe even use it as a game piece if yours is missing. I haven’t measured, but these strike me as
roughly the same size as the game pieces themselves.

But this is an ornament, and as such, it’s supposed to be
hung. You’ll find a loop in the middle
of the train, and that means that yes, this ornament hangs straight. It is slightly heavier than you might be
expecting, but because of its size, it still isn’t that heavy.

And since this was a series piece, you’ll find the 3 in a
Christmas tree on the train’s bottom.

It’s sad that the series ended with only 3 pieces, but the Locomotive token sends the series off on the right track.

As soon as my DC Comics shows come back, my TV watching skyrockets. If it weren't for those shows, I'd have so much more reading time, wouldn't I? I realized that again as all four of those shows up back. No, they aren't all I watch, but they sure are a lot of it.

The Librarians – I told you they would figure out a way to
save Flynn! Loved it! And I figured Eve was running some kind of
scam, but I didn’t think that Flynn was in on it, too. They managed to resolve everything and keep
the team together. Definitely enjoyed
it. And saw news that the show will be
back for season 4, which is terrific news indeed.

Supergirl – What is this, Buffy? Sorry, Alex, but your reaction to Supergirl’s
disappearing was definitely over the top.
Maggie’s reaction to your reaction wasn’t much better, but come on. On the other hand, Winn’s “I am not a red
shirt” line was hilarious. And I am
definitely on the Mon El train. His
relationship with Kara is cute, and I like the character overall.

The Flash – I’m glad they told the team, at least most of
the team, about Barry’s trip to the future.
And I like them bringing Julian on board. I’m still so worried about Caitlyn going to
the Frost side. I really like her and
don’t want that to be permanent.

Legends of Tomorrow – We found Rip. We’ve lost Rip. We are in for a crazy ride the back half of
this season, I can tell. Loved the
George Lucas stuff, especially the trash compactor. I knew what was going to happen as soon as I
saw it, but it was still so much fun.

This is Us – So Kevin is divorced from Kate’s best
friend. Yet Kate seems okay with
that. I’m very curious to hear more of
that story. The end after the parties
was so wonderful. And am I reading
things right? Did Jack die on or near
their birthdays? I’m really not looking
forward to learning more about that, although I know it is coming.

Arrow – Even before the promos started coming out, I
suspected that Laurel was an alternative reality Laurel. I was so sick of her cry. Yikes!
I don’t know enough about the comics to know who that was at the end,
but I’m sure we’ll learn more next week.

Lethal Weapon – Please, Riggs,
don’t cut her family out of your life.
And poor RJ, although with a name like Feather, you knew it wasn’t going
to end well.

Suits – Well, that went about as
well as I expected. Not that I’m
complaining, but with how much Harvey and Louis fight, it will be a wonder if
they can run the firm at all. I do like
the offer they made to Rachel, not that I thought she’d leave. And I’m still not sure what they will be
doing with Mike since he didn’t take the offer.
I’m surprised because I assumed he would. He probably will before the season is over,
but he didn’t for now at least.

Friday, January 27, 2017

It's Friday! That means it is time for this week's Book Beginning and Friday 56.

I'm switching things up a bit from my usual cozy mystery and featuring a middle grade fantasy novel - Secret Origins, the third Story Thieves book by James Riley.

This series features characters who can jump into and out of books and seriously messes with the line between fiction and reality, but in a very fun way.

You can see that from how the book begins:

The evil King of All Stories held his enormous eraser to Bethany's head as she tried to escape.
"It's too late, heroes!" the king told Owen, Kiel, and Charm. "There's nothing you can do! Now I'll erase the parts of Bethany's life story that make her a good person, thereby turning her into my evil minion. The, together, we'll invade the nonfictional world and rule everything!"

Yes, that really is the opening paragraphs. Jumps you right into things, doesn't it?

Speaking of jumping, let's jump ahead to page 56, where we find this:

As they left the room, the lights of the blue-fire portal began to flicker, causing the shadows to dance.
Then the shadows pulled away from the portal to follow Bethany and Owen.

Told you it was something different.

As I mentioned, this is the third in a series, and you really need to start at the beginning to understand all of them, but they are so delightful!

If you are intrigued, I'll be posting my review of the book on Sunday. I hope to see you then.

In my mind, I’m a great athlete. The reality is that some of the sports I
would love to try freak me out when the time comes. I don’t want to go too fast. I don’t want to be too high. It’s one reason I can identify with Meg, the
main character in Kate Dyer-Seeley’s Pacific Northwest series.

You see, Meg works at Northwest
Extreme magazine, based in Portland, Oregon, despite having little outdoor
experience herself. Still, she is trying
these new sports as she covers them. Silenced in the Surf, the third in the
series, finds her covering a windsurfing event on the Hood River.

As part of her press pass, she is given the opportunity to get
out on the river early one morning and try windsurfing. Given her background as a swimmer, Meg thinks
this is one sport she should be able to do.
However, the strong winds are more than she bargained for, and soon she
is being blown down the river. When she
gets things under control, she finds a body floating nearby.

The body is that of surfer Justin Cruise, the star of the windsurfing
circuit. However, he’s also a very nasty
person, as Meg has witnessed firsthand in just the day she’s been there. Her interviews give her an opportunity to
talk to those who knew Justin best. Can
she piece together who killed him and why?

Those who have been reading this series know that there is
an ongoing story in this series concerning Meg’s father. We are teased with just a bit more
information on that in this book. I hope
we start getting more answers on it soon.

As far as the main mystery goes, it’s very strong. There are some wonderful suspects, and I
didn’t know for sure who had done it until Meg figured it out. The pacing was off overall, but the clues and
twists kept me entertained.

Meg is out of town again for this book, but her friends Jill
and Matt are along for the ride. Heck,
even her grandma shows up for the book.
I find that I have a love/hate relationship with her grandma, mainly
because of her New Age beliefs. She’s a
fun character when she’s not promoting that.
When she does start spouting that, it can slow things down. Still, this is a minor thing because it’s
easy to skim past those scenes. The new
characters we meet along the way are just as strong as the series regulars, and
I found them all compelling suspects.

We get some tips and very brief travel guide at the end, so
if you are interested in trying windsurfing or traveling to the Hood River, be
sure to check that out.

While there are some flaws, Silenced in the Surf is overall a very fun book. If you want to add some outdoor adventure to
your reading, be sure to check it out.

I’m a warm weather person.
There’s a reason I live in Southern California, and you won’t find me
complaining about the heat in the summer either. That’s just one of the reasons I love Kokomo,
one of Hallmark’s 2016 releases.

The ornament features a snowman I can completely identify
with. He’s laying out on a lounge chair
somewhere tropical. He’s wearing
sunglasses and a red visor and holding a drink in one hand. His chair is next to a palm tree that is
providing a little shade. Of course, we
all know what happens to a snowman when he gets too warm. And yes, if you look underneath the snowman,
you can see that parts of him are beginning to melt onto the chair. Yet based on the smile on his face, I don’t
think he’s complaining

Now there is one weird thing about this ornament – the
lounge chair. It appears to have wood
grain in it. Oh, it’s made of plastic
like the rest of the ornament, but they carved some wood grain into it. Yet the chair is painted blue. Maybe it’s just my experience, but any chairs
I’ve seen made from wood are always either stained a deeper shade of brown or
left with their natural wood color.
Plastic chairs might be painted a different color, but even then most of
the ones I’ve seen are white.

But that’s a minor issue.
Overall, I like it.

And there’s an added bonus.
If the title of the ornament made you think of the Beach Boys’ song,
that’s intentional. This is one of
Hallmark’s magic ornaments, and comes with your first set of two button
batteries. Just press the button hiding
under one of the chair’s arm, and you’ll hear a 30 second clip of
“Kokomo.” Combine that with the great
looking ornament, and you are sure to have a smile on your face.

Just like a chair rests on any flat surface, this ornament
sits on any flat surface. Given the
tropical vibe, you could set this out and enjoy it during the summer, for
example, if you wanted to.

I hung mine on my tree this year. The loop is located in the top of the palm
tree. The ornament does tip forward a
bit, but it isn’t enough to be an issue.

We don’t normally think of the tropics when we think of
Christmas, but that theme works perfectly here.
If you want to add some warmth to your tree, be sure to check out
Kokomo.

Sometimes, when I read a book, I have to sit back and
scratch my head, wondering if something in the book is actually a thing. In the case of Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, I’m wondering that about pets who
paint. I’d certainly never heard of that
before, but it sets up the fun third Pampered Pets Mystery.

In fact, the book opens at a gallery showing for several
different artistic pets, including the two cats of Caro Lamont’s neighbor Kitty
Bardot. Like me, Caro isn’t so sure she
gets these paintings, but she is there to support Kitty, a publicist to the
stars who is also a friend. So when
Kitty asks Caro to take her two pets home from the event because of an
emergency that has come up, Caro quickly agrees.

On the way home, Caro, her boyfriend Sam, and the cats pass
the scene of an accident. It’s Kitty in
the car, and she didn’t make it.
However, the accident isn’t what killed her – it was being shot with a
gun. While Caro isn’t ready to jump into
another murder investigation, she finds herself drawn in. The police have no real suspects or
leads. Can Caro figure out what
happened?

This book is tons of fun.
If you haven’t figured it out already, this is a very light mystery
filled with characters and events that are slightly absurd. I’m not going to spoil anything, but we meet
a new character here that was an absolute delight. Don’t worry, everything is real enough to
make us care about the outcome. The
characters are strong, too, and I feel like we are getting to know Caro and
another couple of people in her regular orbit.

The plot was a tad on the weak side. The pacing was off, but by the time we reach
the end, everything makes perfect sense.
And I was having so much fun that I didn’t mind. It does get stronger as the book goes along
and we begin to find suspects and get some twists.

One thing I really enjoy in this series is the on-going feud
that Caro has with her cousin (and main character in the even numbered books in
the series) Mel. It’s all over a
broach. The scenes involving that broach
made me laugh out loud. At some point,
I’m sure the authors will resolve this, and I’m going to miss it when that
happens.

If you have pets yourself, there are a couple of recipes for
treats you can make them at the back of the book. There are also teasers for the first two
books in the series, so if you’ve missed them, they’ll get you hooked.

I read to escape, so when I find a fun series, I get hooked
quickly. I’m definitely hooked on the
Pampered Pets Mysteries, and Kitty Kitty Bang Bang will show you exactly why.

“If You Take Loyalty and Ethics out of a Business, You Know
What You Have?” “A TV Network?”

At the end of season 4 of Reba, the WB, the station airing the show at the time, renewed it
for two seasons. At the end of season 5,
the WB merged with UPN, and in the resulting confusion, Reba almost got canceled (despite strong ratings) until the
resulting new CW network realized what it would cost them to do so. As a result, they ordered the minimum 13
episode season 6, which allowed the show to give us a proper wrap up.

Since the writers had some idea the show might not be back
for season 6, we start the season off with no cliffhanger resolution. (I just had to give the writer’s a shout out
for being responsible.)

But change is definitely in the air for the Hart family, and
Reba Hart (Reba McIntyre) is just trying to weather the storm. Daughter Cheyenne (JoAnna Garcia) and son-in-law
Van (Steve Howey) are expecting their second child and are looking to move out
and get a place of their own. That’s
driving Van to be a better realtor, which is causing some friction with his business
partner Reba, especially when he gets an offer to move to a different
company. Meanwhile, Barbara Jean
(Melissa Peterman) has lost weight and is finally pursuing one of her own
dreams, causing conflict in her marriage to Reba’s ex-husband Brock
(Christopher Rich). Of course, Reba is
caught right in the middle. Meanwhile,
Jake (Mitch Hollerman) get caught up in a new sport he wants to keep secret
from everyone else.

Middle daughter Kyra missed almost all of season 5 since Scarlett
Pomers, the actress who played her, was in treatment for an eating disorder. (And I still applaud everyone for how it was
handled.) Her absence was actually never
really explained the show, and they mock themselves brilliantly in the first
episode this season when Kyra reappears.
She is back in full force with her wonderful sarcasm. She’s now a senior is high school and decides
to move back in with Reba for her final year before she goes off to
college. The resulting fights are
predictable, but they are still entertaining.

And that’s the thing with this show this season. We’ve seen some of these jokes before, but we
still laugh at them because the writers find ways to make them funny
still. It helps that, while the jokes
may be familiar, we are seeing the characters growing and changing so many of
the situations are fresh.

Notice I said many.
Brock and Barbara Jean’s marital problems had been an on-going story at
this point, and I still feel like this season didn’t add much new, but it’s a
minor issue.

My only other complaint with the season is the ending. Don’t get me wrong, the ending is the right
ending. In fact, if you listen to the
commentaries on earlier seasons, you’ll see the actors felt this was how the
show should have ended back then.
However, that final scene still feels forced. I like it, but I don’t just because it feels
very abrupt. Maybe if the writers had
more than 13 episodes this season, they could have eased into it easier. After all, if you really think about what all
happened in these 13 episodes, at lot is packed in.

The acting this season is fine as always. The cast knows these characters, and they
mine the scripts for every laugh. I have
no complaints in that department.

In fact, my complaints above are more niggles than true
complaints. They keep the season from
being perfect, but I’d forgotten just how funny these epiosdes are until I went
to rewatch them.

The thirteen episodes from this season are preserved here in
their native full frame and stereo sound.
(This was 2006 after all.) We get
one double sided disc with the episodes and no bonus features. Honestly, I was happy to get that with how
the show was treated for this final season.

If you’ve been a fan of Reba,
you’ll definitely want to have the final season in your collection. And if you’ve missed this gem, by all means go
back and start at the beginning. It’s a
truly funny show.

Trixie Belden number 38 has a special place in my
heart. While it is the next to last book
in the series, it was the last book I had to track down and read when I was a
teen, having previous gotten the rest.
And it took me a couple of years, too, since this was in the days before
eBay. Of course, that special place
doesn’t make me overlook the flaws in The Indian Burial Ground Mystery, and it has some series flaws.

Summer is starting, and fourteen-year-old Trixie Belden is
excited about the archeological dig that is going to happen on her neighbor
Honey’s property. Professor Conroy has
determined that there is an Indian burial ground there, and he has agreed to
let the Bob-Whites, Trixie and her friends, help out. To Trixie, it looks like a mystery with each
artifact they find being a new clue to the lives of the Indians who lived in
the region centuries ago.

The one flaw in her summer plans is Charles, the student
leader of the dig. While warming up to
Trixie’s older brother Brian, he is rude to Trixie. Trixie knows he is up to something, but Brian
won’t listen. Can Trixie figure it all
out?

If you have missed this series, it is a mystery series for
kids along the lines of Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. Early in the series, the characters are real
and complex. By the time we’ve reached
these last few books, they are more caricatures of themselves than real
characters. That’s very obvious here
were Trixie and Brian’s interactions feel more like plot points than the
brother/sister relationship we see early on.
Heck, they completely write out Honey’s adopted brother, Jim, for the
book, although the rest of the Bob-Whites at least get a few appearances.

Then there’s the plot.
It’s fairly obvious who the villain is early on. There are a few complications that keep it
from being completely obvious what exactly is happening, and those
complications make it fun, but the end isn’t really a surprise. Oh, and there is no way the adults would go
along with the ending either, at least the adults in the earlier books in the
series.

And yet I have a very hard time hating a Trixie Belden
book. Oh, there are a couple I really
can’t stand, but it is always fun spending time with these characters even when
they aren’t at their best. I’ve spent so
much time with them over the years, too.
It does help that I first read this book not too long after reading the
rest of the series. Friends I know who
read this book first as an adult years after completing the rest of the series hate
it because it is so different than the earlier, better books. But to me, it is only an average entry.

So I do recommend The Indian Burial Ground Mystery for fans of the series. It’s not the best in the series, but it is
fun. Just take your time tracking it
down and wait until you find a reasonably priced copy.

As much as I love Christmas, one thing I don’t do is send
out Christmas cards. Yes, I still feel
guilty about it, too, since I love getting them so much. But that tradition is the subject of the
tenth Winter Fun with Snoopy ornament.

This ornament finds Snoopy checking his mail. It’s a good day, too, because he’s found a
letter with his name on it inside his red mailbox. It’s extra special because his mail is being
personally delivered by a friend – Woodstock, of course. He’s holding the letter and sticking his head
out from inside. There’s snow on top of
the mailbox and on the ground that Snoopy is standing on. Snoopy is wearing a green and blue scarf and
hat.

And the entire scene is cute enough to make me smile. This one seems a little bigger than some of
the others in the series, probably because Snoopy isn’t the only large thing in
the ornament. He’s slightly smaller than
the mailbox, in fact. Still, this is
definitely a smaller size than the normal ornaments from Hallmark and only
marginally larger than the others in the series.

The scene provides a nice flat base, so you could set it out
to enjoy on any level surface if you wanted.
You’ll also find the 10 in a Christmas tree series marker on the bottom.

The loop for hanging the ornament is on the top of the
mailbox. It slightly tips toward Snoopy,
but not enough to be an issue.

This is my last light week for TV for a little while. My superhero shows start up again on Monday. But for now, here's what I watched this week.

The Librarians – So I do wonder exactly how much time had
passed between episodes. I mean, Jake’s
gotten how much training? Having said
that, it was a fun episode with a very touching end. And Jenkins wasn’t in it much, but we got a
huge insight into his character. So much
set up for next week, I’m wondering if everyone is going to make it
through. I don’t think so, but I hope
I’m wrong.

The Odd Couple – Sports predicting penguin. That’s pretty funny. That was definitely the best part of the
episode, although I do wonder if they were setting it up somehow like Oscar
thought.

This Is Us – When I found out they were doing a show just
set in 1980, I was less than enthused. I
like getting the updates on the characters in the present. Turned out I absolutely loved it! The acting was outstanding, especially from
Mandy Moore. Her monologue was
fantastic, and it’s something you don’t see much these days. The rest of it was good, too, and it’s nice
to see how ultimately that day impacted so many lives besides the main family.

Lethal Weapon – Best episode of 2017. Plenty of laughs. Some good action. Twists to the case. And lots of heartfelt moments. I love the relationships between the
characters, and this one played on all of them perfectly. Yes, this show still has it. Okay, I could have done without the Ford
commercial, although that scene was pretty funny.

The Big Bang Theory – This episode was so out of character
for Leonard. They’ve always pointed out
how loving and attentive he is, so to see him acting like he was just didn’t
jive. Some of the jokes were good, but
overall it felt off. On the other hand,
the squeaky floor sub-plot was hysterical.

The Great Outdoors – I enjoy last week’s episode, so I guess
this week’s had to be off. It just felt
forced to me. Seriously, who couldn’t
see where it was going all along, and I feel like they are doing the same
stories and same jokes over and over again.
That’s a bad sign half way through the first season, right?

Girl Meets World – That went exactly as I expected it to
go. However, I was crying there near the
end, even once they decided to stay. I
loved all the cameos by the Boy Meets World crew. I was especially laughing at Morgan’s
appearance, or should I saw appearances.
Great in joke there. And the
scene between Shawn and Mr. Turner was so incredible as well. It definitely played like a series finale,
and it is a wonderful finale.

When I started listening to Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone
series a couple of years ago, it actually wasn’t my first introduction to the series. I had listened to “F” is for Fugitive over 15 years ago, and my guess is it was an
abridgement, although I don’t remember for sure. I was curious to see what I would think of
this book now and what I would think of it in context, not that I truly
remember any of the story. Turns out I
loved it.

Seventeen years ago, teen Jean Timberlake was murdered on
the beach in the town of Floral Beach.
Her boyfriend, Bailey Fowler, was convicted of the crime, but he escaped
after serving a year of his sentence.
Now, he’s been recaptured, and Bailey’s father has hired Kinsey to find
out the truth of what happened back then.

And so Kinsey drives the hour and a half north to Floral
Beach and begins interviewing the people who were involved with Jean back
then. She finds that Floral Beach is a
very small community, and everyone knows everyone else. Even today, Jean’s reputation with the boys
is legendary, and it seems like the suspect list is long. But with no one willing to tell Kinsey the
truth, can she solve this cold crime?

This book takes place almost exclusively outside of Kinsey’s
usual stomping grounds of Santa Teresa.
What’s funny to me is that I actually remembered just a tad of how this
book opens thanks to the ending of the previous book in the series. Other than that, I was coming to this book
with a completely fresh slate.

Which means I was in for all the fun twists and turns as the
story progressed. It seems that everyone
Kinsey meets has a motive for the killing, and as Bailey’s return and Kinsey’s
questions put everyone on edge, the ride truly gets crazy. Yet Kinsey is once again able to put
everything together to reach a logical conclusion in time for the wonderful
climax.

This book also features an almost completely new cast of
characters, but they are completely real to us as soon as we meet them. This isn’t a surprise to me since I’ve always
found Sue Grafton’s characters to be strong.
We do see a little growth in Kinsey in this book as well, and I really
liked that.

Of course, this is a departure from my usual cozies. Just know that going in and you’ll be fine.

When I get to the first book not narrated by Mary Peiffer,
it’s going to be quite an adjustment for me.
I love her work here. She brings
Kinsey to wonderful life, which is important in a first person narrated story,
and injects just enough into her voice to help us get Kinsey’s amusement at
some of the people and events of the story.
She also helps bring the other characters in the book to life.

While I didn’t remember much about this book from my first
time listening to it, I’m glad to have re-listened to it now. “F” is for Fugitive is a wonderful book that will leave you guessing until the
end.

With all the Hallmark ornaments I collect, it is rare for me
to buy their religious ornaments. The
one exception are the churches they release each year which complement their
old Candlelight Services series. O Holy Night
was 2016’s release, and it was another good church.

This church is formed from wood, or at least it’s sculpted
to look like it. It’s got large wooden
beams making the walls. There are stone
corners and foundation. Between the painted
red wood and the stone, this is a very nice looking church. It is very squarish rectangle and has a
steeple rising out of the front of the church.
Naturally, there is snow on the ground and the roof. This is Christmas after all.

Now, the old ornaments in the official series had windows
that would light up when you stuck a Christmas tree light in the back of the
church. I loved that. I wish these newer ornaments did that. I will always complain about that even though
that obviously isn’t what they are doing any more. However, we do still get a fun extra –
sound. Put the two button batteries in
the base of the ornament and press the button to hear about a 20 second clip of
“O Holy Night.” This year that sound
clip is instrumental, just a piano playing part of the first verse of the
carol. You can easily imagine it as the
opening of a Christmas Eve service.

I usually set my collection of churches out each year, after
all buildings have nice flat bases, and this one is no exception. If you want to hang this ornament, however,
you’ll find that it hangs straight.

I do wish they still made the churches with windows that
could glow with the help of a light string.
They could still have the music clip since they did both one year. But I do enjoy these churches as they are.

So I am glad to have O Holy Night in my collection. It’s another nice church with a fun sound
clip.

I had a mixed reaction to the first book in the Hamptons
Home and Garden series, but I enjoyed the ending and I really wanted to like
the series, so I gave Hearse and Gardens
a try. Sadly, it didn’t improve any on
the flaws of the first book.

Meg Barrett and her friend Elle Warner are excited to be
given access to one of the cottages on Elle’s great-uncle’s estate. The cottage is about to be moved, but first,
the pair can go in and remove anything they think they can use for their
antique and decorating businesses. While
they are exploring the cottage, they find a door to a long forgotten recording
studio. Inside the studio is a skeleton.

Everyone is quick to assume that the skeleton belongs to Great
Uncle Harry’s son who disappeared well over a decade ago. But if those are his remains, who locked him
in the studio? Everyone assumed he ran
off with the neighbor’s wife. Where is
she? Is she dead as well, or is she the
killer? And what about the rare Warhol
painting the duo supposedly stole?

The book starts off very quickly as we find the skeleton in
the first few pages. However, the pace
lags after that. Meg goes about her
life, including a feud with another decorator and a legal fight over the
cottage he’d bought for herself.
Actually, I found those sub-plots more compelling than the main mystery
at times. Plus we get long passages
describing places and things that Meg has found or giving us the history of the
Hamptons. The mystery does have some
good twists, but most of them come in the final third of the book, and once the
pace picked up, I again got very interested in it.

The characters are certainly interesting. Meg is a strong character, and I appreciate
her partial hearing loss since it is something different for a protagonist in a
cozy series. There are a few returning
characters, and I enjoyed seeing them again.
The new characters are outstanding as well, and I never had a hard time
keeping them all straight.

The book has some decorating tips at the end as well as two
recipes from Meg’s dad, a gourmet chef.

I wish the pacing of this book were better because there is
much to like in Hearse and Gardens. As it stands, this will be my last visit with
Meg to the Hamptons.

There are authors on my shelf that I fully intend to read,
yet for some reason I haven’t. One of
those is Kate Carlisle. I read her debut
years ago and enjoyed it, yet I’ve never read any more in either of her
series. Why am I bringing this up
now? Because Hallmark Movies and
Mysteries has debuted their latest movie franchise based on Kate Carlisle’s
Fixer Upper series. Framed for Murder gets this new movie franchise off to a great
start.

The movie is set in the small town of Lighthouse Cove on the
coast. Shannon Hughes (Jewel) is the go
to person in town for renovations, and she specializes in the Victorians that
populate the town. In fact, she’s just
finished work on her friend Jennifer’s (Erin Karpluk) new bed and breakfast.

However, things take a dark turn when Shannon discovers the
body of her neighbor, Jennifer’s uncle Jesse (Ken Tremblett), one morning. The police think he accidentally tripped and
fell, hitting his head, but Shannon isn’t so sure. Little clues make her think that Jesse was actually
murdered. Can she find any evidence to
back up her claim?

Any fan of a book knows that you need to let go of any
preconceived ideas when a movie version is made. While I’ve never read any of these books, I
do know that they changed Shannon’s last name for the movies from Hammer to
Hughes. I don’t know of any other
changes, but I’m sure there were some.

But I can really only judge on what I saw here. And what I saw was a very good mystery. I had no clue where things were going until
Shannon figured it out at the end, yet the ending tied up everything nicely,
including an opening that didn’t seem to tie in to anything else for quite a while. Your patience there will be well rewarded.

And I like these characters.
Heck, I was very sorry when Jesse turned out to be the victim, and I
sympathized with the characters as they mourned. Shannon is a great character, and I also
really enjoyed Mac Sullivan, a true crime reporter and the potential love
interest played by Colin Ferguson, who helps Shannon along the way.

I am only familiar with Jewel’s singing career, not that
I’ve even followed that for a decade or so.
I wasn’t sure how she’d do as an actress, but I was pleasantly
surprised. She brought Shannon to
wonderful life. When you’ve got an actress
like Jewel, it’s not surprise that they found a chance to get Shannon singing,
which was wonderful. The rest of the
cast is just as strong.

And yes, my normal Hallmark movie warning comes into play
here. There is a certain level of cheese
to the movie, both in the writing and the acting. Just know that going in, and you’ll soon be
lost in the story.

Truly, Framed for
Murder is a fun movie. I’m going to
have to dust off the books and make time to read them so I’ll be ready for more
movies in this promising new franchise.

As soon as I heard about Murder with a Twist, I knew I had to read it.
Author Tracy Kiely described it as an homage to The Thin Man stories, and since I loved those, I wanted to see how
this modern take would be. I’m pleased
to say it lived up to my expectations.

Nicole “Nic” and her husband Nigel Martini are in New York
for Christmas, spending it with Nigel’s extremely rich family. While the couple live in Los Angeles, Nic is
a former homicide cop with the NYPD. And
the family wants to use her background to help them find Nigel’s cousin Audrey’s
husband. It seems that Leo is a cade
only interested in Audrey’s trust fund and not a very good husband, but Audrey
is insisting that her husband be there for her 25th birthday party set for the
week after Christmas.

The trail quickly leads Nic and Nigel to one of Nic’s old
contacts on the shady side of the law, Frank Little, a money lender with less
than scrupulous practices and ties to even worse men. But when a dead body appears, Nic has to
wonder what she has gotten into. Will
she find Leo? Or is Audrey really better
off if Leo never comes home?

Those who are fans of The
Thin Man will immediately start noticing similarities. Our main character is former homicide cop Nic
instead of former PI Nick. Like the
first story, this one is set at Christmas.
And the couple even has a dog, although in this case the dog is
extremely large. The similarities don’t
end there, and I guarantee you that any fan will be smiling as they read the
book.

But here’s the thing – even if you’ve never read Hammett’s
book or seen the movies, you will still absolutely enjoy this book. You might not appreciate all the nods to the
original, but this book stands up on its own.

Take the mystery. It
starts off quickly and pulls us through the entire book. We get plenty of twists and surprises before
we reach the logical ending. And that
ending? Nic confronting all of the
suspects at dinner, of course. Yet
another Thin Man reference that has gone out of style but I enjoyed seeing here
since it isn’t used much anymore.

Likewise, the characters are fantastic. Some of them are larger than life, but they
fit their part in the story and the universe that is being created here. Nic and Nigel are very well drawn and
believable. You can’t help but love
them.

Plus there’s the money element. Who wouldn’t love to have as much money as
the Martini’s obviously do? It’s nice to
dream a bit as you read, isn’t it?

The story is filled with humor. Sometimes, it’s the antics of the Martini’s
new dog, Skippy. Others, it’s the quips
and wit of the characters, usually Nic and Nigel. I found myself laughing out loud multiple
times as the book progressed, although I did find the book got more serious as
the stakes in the mystery got higher.
Still, we’d get those lines that break up the tension even late in the
book.

This book has been on my radar for two years and in my condo
for about a year. I am so sorry I waited
that long to read it. Don’t make my
mistake and pick up Murder with a Twist
today.

When Disney acquired LucasFilm and promised new Star Wars
movies, I was among those who were very excited. I’m more excited about the official episodes,
but the other movies they planned in the world sounded fun, too. Thanks to the craziness of the holidays, I
just now got to see Rogue One, and I
was very disappointed by it.

The movie tells us the story of Jyn Erso (Felicity
Jones). As a young girl, she watches as
the Empire tracks down her father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen), and kidnaps him,
killing her mother in the process. Her
father is a great engineer, and the Empire want to use him on a top secret
project.

As a young woman, Jyn lives under an alias, trying to hide
from the empire. But it’s the rebellion
who figures out who she is, freeing her from a prison. They’ve gotten word from a pilot that Galen
has a message for them, a message that might be key to defeating the Empire’s
new weapon. Jyn is teamed up with
Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and the robot K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) to track down her
father. Only Cassian has orders of his own. Will they be able to work together to get the
plans to the rebels?

I heard almost nothing but praise for this movie since it
came out, so I feel like I’m in the minority, but I didn’t like it. There are two problems with this film, the
first is that it is a war film. Oh,
don’t get me wrong, the action takes place across a bunch of great planets, but
it is a war film. I don’t like war
films, and this movie reinforced why.

The other problem is that we already know what is going to
happen, and it happens. We do learn why
there is the famous fatal flaw in the original Death Star, and the cameos by
some characters we know are fun, but they don’t support a two hour plus movie.

Not this isn’t the fault of the production itself. This looks like a Star Wars film, filled with
fun creatures and strange new alien worlds.
The special effects were wonderful.
And the acting was great. There
was even some fun humor early on before it got dark.

No, my problem with this story is with the script. In fact, it’s the same problem I have with
the prequels. We know where the story is
going, and it does nothing along the way to surprise us.

Rogue One hasn’t
diminished my enthusiasm for Episode VIII later this year, but I will be more
cautious about the next extra project that they release.

When you become a Hallmark collector, you quickly learn that
not only do they have the official series pieces, but there are also unofficial
series compliments. Some of those pieces
can be as good if not better than the official series pieces. I think that’s the case with Stanley T. Starr, an unofficial series compliment to the Snowtop Lodge series.

This piece was originally released to the Keepsake Ornament
Club, so he is a little rarer. At first
glance, he might not seem so special.
After all, this is a snowman, like all the entries in the series. Stanley has a blue-gray scarf and light green
stocking in one hand. Like the others he
has a scene on him. This time, it is of
a snowy village under a clear night sky.
Stanley is the least colorful of the series to date; all the colors are
very muted and the scene on him is mostly just raised with very little gray shading. Of course, he does have another part of the
scene on his hat. If you look up there,
you’ll see Santa and his reindeer taking off.

Honestly, I like the muted look of this piece. I’m not saying I would want every ornament in
the series to look like this, but there is something elegant about the
minimalist look.

However, what really makes the ornament stand out from the
official series is the fact that it lights up.
You can stick it on any light bulb on your Christmas tree, and you’ll
see light shining through the stars. In
fact, the bottom of the ornament glows, too, which really makes the snowy
village scene stand out. This just makes
him all the more fun. I stuck him on a
white light this year because I have so little imagination for something like
that, but you really can put him on any colored light you want. I tried this as I was undecorating the tree,
and I found that I liked blue as well.
Try it on various colors and see what you think.

Like the others in the series, you’ll find that Stanley does
have a nice, flat bottom, so you can set him out as part of the rest of the
series. Of course, you won’t be able to
get him to light up if you do that.
Since he is not an official part of the series, you won’t find a series
marker on him anywhere.

I hung my copy of this ornament on my tree this year. He hangs straight, although light bulbs and
tree branches can interfere with that.

It’s easy to miss these series compliments if you aren’t
paying close attention. If that happened
to you, go track down a copy of Stanley T. Starr today. You’ll be very thankful you did.

This was a crazy busy week at work with a huge deadline on Friday. I'm glad I didn't have my full compliment of shows because I would have been behind come Friday night.

The Librarians – They finally dealt with Cassandra’s tumor,
although I’m a little curious how her gift works now. Is she smarter? Or is she able to transfer her knowledge to
others? Or both? And I loved how they tied in the vampires to
one of the movies. I’d forgotten that
particular movie.

The Odd Couple – I like what they are doing with Oscar; they
are really growing him. However, Felix’s
story was just painful in this episode.

This is Us – Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, how can you be so
stupid? That was so obviously going to
backfire. I was afraid that Jack was
going to wind up imitating his father instead of going to him for a loan. Showed how truly desperate he was to provide
for his family. Yet I love how the
characters ultimately face what is coming their way together head on. And it looks like we are still on track for
Randall’s father to die at the end of the season.

Lethal Weapon – Since I’m in a bowling league at work again
right now, I loved the bowling connection there. Those scenes were fun. I wish the captain hadn’t been part of
corruption, although I sure get the desire to put someone away like that. And yes, I laughed a couple of times. I hope they are getting some of the humor
back because that seems to have ben missing recently.

The Great Indoors – Wow, the club was so unfriendly. However, the insults throughout the episode
were a lot of fun. Very funny and spot
on. The show still needs to develop the
characters more as characters instead of the caricatures they are right now,
but I am enjoying it more each week.

Girl Meets World – I was fighting tears in that last scene,
and I’m just dreading next week. Series
finale and the threat of leaving the country?
I have a feeling they won’t go.
They did this kind of thing on Boy
Meets World, and when they filmed the episodes, they didn’t know if the
show would be back or not. But still, it’s
going to be hard, especially knowing it is the series finale.

It never fails for the poor, unsuspecting PI. They think they are taking on an easy case
when in reality what appears simple holds danger and twists. Of course, if it didn’t, we’d just have a
short story instead of a novel. But it’s
the case once again for Elvis Cole in Indigo Slam.

This book finds Elvis working for a trio of kids. They walk into his office one afternoon and
hire him to find their father. The man
has been missing for almost two weeks.
While he’s left them behind before while pursuing a new job, this is the
longest he’s ever been gone, and the trio have gotten worried. Elvis isn’t sure about working for them,
especially since the oldest is fifteen and still too young to be caring for her
siblings, but Elvis’s girlfriend Lucy talks him into it.

The trail quickly leads him from Los Angeles to Seattle,
where Elvis realizes that the family was in witness protection three years
ago. Does their past have anything to do
with the father’s disappearance? Could
Elvis stir up old danger by his investigation?

Of course, the answer to all of those questions is yes, but
I will leave it to you to figure out exactly what is happening now and
why. There are some good twists and lots
of complications along the way to an exciting climax. The pace never lags along the way, either.

There are very few returning characters in this book, but
the new cast of characters are interesting enough to keep your attention. I do still feel that Elvis and especially his
partner Joe Pike are more caricatures instead of full and real characters, but
that feeling is lessening as the series progresses.

The previous book left us with a couple of very mild
cliffhangers. Lucy had just gotten a
potential job offer that would move her to LA, and this book picks up on that,
giving us a fun sub-plot as Elvis deals with the case. I’m very curious where this will go in future
books. On the other hand, the ending of
the previous book left Elvis very disillusioned and thinking of getting out of
the PI business. There is no mention of
any of that here, which I found very disappointing, especially since it could
have fueled some nice character growth.

I have often complained in my reviews of Robert Crais’s
books about his excessive foul language.
I’m happy to say that wasn’t as issue for me here. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there was still foul
language, but it fit the characters and the situations instead of feeling like
he added it to pad his word count. This
isn’t one of my normal cozies, but I wasn’t expecting it to be when I picked it
up.

This is the second time I’ve listened to David Stuart
narrate one of these books, and I found that he did an excellent job. In fact, I’d gotten used to his narration at
this point, so his take on Elvis and Joe didn’t feel off like it had when I
first started the last book.

I’m seeing some good growth in the writing as this series
progresses, and I’m beginning to see why it is such a favorite series. I’m hoping that upward trend continues from Indigo Slam.

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I'm an accountant by trade but a reviewer at heart. Top reviewer at Amazon. Love to read, watch TV and movies, and listen to music. And I'm always looking to share and discuss what I am currently consuming.

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